Well, I did it. I sent in the application today to do the 508 as a 2 woman team.

http://www.the508.com/

Yikes!

Some of you know the story: I was originally plannign to do it with my friend Stacy, then her life intervened (in a good way) and she backed out. Then she and I discussed maybe doing the brevet series together next year and then a couple of weeks ago she said she thought we should just do the 508 after all! So I had some real thinking to do.

Cost is a factor - you need special lighting for your car and a crew and accommodations. But one of our crew thinks that we may be able to borrow the car lights and we will try to do things on the cheap as much as possible. So I had a talk with DH last night and signed up today.

We are trying to get the okapi as our totem (there are no race numbers for the 508 - only totems).

I realize now I should have consulted with Nanci on animal totems since she's the resident guru on animals/reptiles/birds/etc., but the Okapi is a good symbol of hope as it has recently been discovered in a park in the war-torn Congo where it had been thought extinct. It can also survive on 5 minutes sleep in a 24 hour period, which is fitting to this race, and it can lick its own ears, which is not fitting to the race, but cool.

So I'm committed! (Or should be committed...)